


ophelia in the waters

by littlesaintmick



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: LittleSaintMick Studios presents: another extremely niche au, M/M, Tags to be added, dean and seth as brothers au that's what we're going with here, oh boy what the hell do i even tag THIS shit with
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-06 19:12:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16393523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlesaintmick/pseuds/littlesaintmick
Summary: seth meets his father's long-kept secret, proceeds to sneak out of the house to go hang out with said secret and said secret's hot samoan boyfriend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> again, i'm trying to Ignore Reality and focus primarily on. fantasy worlds. where this shit isn't actually happening and i can just pretend everything is happy. been sitting on this one for a while.

Seth laughed and leaned into his father’s hug, his cheeks flushed with joy. This was one of the best nights of his life, hands down. His eighteenth birthday coinciding with receiving an acceptance letter to his dream school, and he was having a perfect dinner with his parents at home. The only thing missing was Uncle Shawn, but Seth didn’t hold it against him. He was helping out an older member of his church after she’d gotten surgery, and-while Seth firmly did not believe in any god or church-he admired his uncle’s dedication and compassion. It was probably the only thing that had kept Seth from becoming a totally douchey rich kid. 

Not that he didn’t have his moments like that, but he would always be grateful for Shawn’s presence in his life. 

Stephanie took a bite of her salad and smiled at Seth. 

“Are you thinking of living on campus, or do you want your own place?”

Seth shrugged. 

“Haven’t thought much about that yet, but I guess it would be nice to have my own place.”

“Don’t rush him, Steph, he’s got plenty of time before he has to figure that out.”

Hunter was cutting into his steak and Seth smiled at his dad. He loved both of his parents dearly, even if they disagreed on some things. Really, Seth had more disagreements with his mother, but he still loved her. 

“I am really excited, though.”

“I bet, honey! You’ve been wanting to go there since grade school.”

Seth bit his lip. He had his entire college career planned out, and he was extraordinarily excited about it. 

He looked up at the sound of the doorbell ringing. Seth and his parents all looked at each other, and Hunter stood, wiping his face with his napkin quickly.

“I’ll answer it, you two stay and enjoy the food.”   
Seth would have to thank the cook later. It really was a delicious meal, and he enjoyed spending time with the man. He wasn’t much older than Seth, Aleister had only recently graduated from culinary school, and they had a lot of similar interests. Seth had even started learning to bake from him. It didn’t hurt that Seth had had a tiny crush on him for the first few months of knowing him. 

Seth frowned at the sound of a new voice.

“What d’you mean ‘what am I doing here’? Can’t come to fuckin’ visit-”

“This is not the time, Dean-”

Seth saw his mother frown and he followed her to the door. He wouldn’t say he was hiding behind her, but he was unsure of the situation and didn’t like to throw himself into the fray. His father was talking to a man in the foyer; he wasn’t much older than Seth, definitely not, and he had long reddish-blond hair in a loose ponytail, and when he looked over to them, Seth was almost in shock. 

He looked  _ strikingly _ like Hunter, the resemblance to his father in his younger days unsettling. The man scoffed, and Seth noticed the other man standing with him, his breath leaving him for a moment. 

The other man was a bit bigger, broader definitely and thickly muscled, long black hair loose and slightly wet. He looked as though he hadn’t said a word, and he didn’t look like he planned to change that.

“So you finally settled down, huh?”

Seth watched his father’s face. It was...an expression Seth had never really seen before. He looked to his mother for a moment; she was fuming.

“Hunter-”

“Steph, let me handle-”

“Dad? Who is this?”   
They all went silent at Seth’s question. He blinked at his father, and the man-Seth had heard Hunter call him ‘Dean’-raised his eyebrows, eyes going wide and mouth gaping.

“You didn’t even tell anyone?”

Hunter closed his eyes and inhaled slowly through his nose, opening his eyes after a few moments. 

“Don’t do this right now.”

“Do what? Expose myself as your dirty little forgotten fuckin’ secret?”

“Dad-”

The man-Dean-brought a fist up to his head, lightly hitting himself a few times. It was an odd action, and the other man-whose name Seth still didn’t know-stepped up slightly. He was a touch taller than Hunter, and it was odd to see someone be bigger than his father. 

“Let’s not make this a problem. Any of us.”

“And who exactly are you?”

Stephanie’s voice was sharp as always, and the man looked her in the eye. It was such a fierce look, Seth felt a little afraid, though nothing about the man’s energy said that the would become violent.

“My name is Roman Reigns. I came with Dean in case he needed help.”

“Which I guess I fuckin’ do since you’re not even FUCKING LISTENING TO ME-”

“Do NOT raise your voice in my house, Dean.”

Dean growled at Hunter and got directly in his face. 

“You may be my dad but you don’t get to tell me what to fucking do.”

Seth almost didn’t realize what Dean had said. It took a few seconds, in the now-silence of the room, for him to grasp what had been said. Seth’s eyes widened and he looked at the other four people in the room; Stephanie was fuming still, clearly furious, glaring at Roman, Roman returning the glare but staying close to Dean. Dean and Hunter were staring each other down, neither willing to look away from the other first.

“Wh-what? Dad, did he-is-”

Hunter’s chest was rising up and down slowly, and Seth had never once seen his father this angry.

“Stephanie, Seth. This is Dean Ambrose. He’s my son.”

Seth stared at Hunter, then at Dean. That explained the resemblance. Everyone was quiet for a long minute, before Roman sighed, his shoulders relaxing, his hands going to Dean’s shoulders, gently pulling him away from Hunter. His deep voice was low as he spoke to Dean, fingers gently massaging him.

“Dean, baby, we can’t be aggressive right now. I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be, but we came for help, and jumping down his throat will not get us that. Do you think you can do this without starting a fight?”

Seth watched them. Dean stared at the floor for a moment, his lips drawn into a tight frown, before he looked up at Roman and nodded.

“For her, I can. I can do this.”

Seth frowned and watched as Dean took a deep breath, turning back to Hunter. He took a second before he spoke and his voice was quieter than it’d been.

“I….apologize….for raising my voice. I didn’t come here to fight you or anything. I-Mom is-something happened-”

His voice was suddenly very wet, and though Seth didn’t know Dean, he felt bad for him. He looked at his father, whose face had gone from angry to concerned.

“What do you mean? What happened, is she-is she sick-”

Dean shook his head. 

“No-she-this guy-this guy hurt her and-he fucked everything up an’ now she’s in the hole really bad and we can’t-”

Dean pulled his mouth shut and sniffled, Roman’s arm going around his waist. He leaned in and pressed his nose to Dean’s hair, his eyes closed.

“It’s okay, baby, it’ll all be okay-”

He looked at Hunter, and Seth’s breath was taken away again. 

“We’re not asking for you to fix everything. We just need-we’ve been trying to pay off as much as we can, and we’ve gotten some of it-but we just need….something. Some help, before-”

Hunter let out a quiet breath and sighed. 

“Let’s go sit down. Seth, you should probably go to bed-”

“What? No, I want-”

Seth and Dean made eye contact, and he swallowed. 

“I want...I wanna talk to Dean, please, Dad-”

“Not tonight, Seth. Just-We’ll talk in the morning. Please.”

Seth looked at Roman and Dean before nodding, sullenly heading upstairs. He locked himself in his room, throwing himself on the bed and curling up around a pillow, thinking about what had just transpired. He bit his lip, holding the pillow tight, squeezing it and rolling around on his bed a little. 

“I have a brother.”

His voice was tentatively excited, and he rolled on the bed more. He had a brother. An older brother. He had an older brother, who was here and real and Seth had an  _ older goddamn brother _ . He had no idea how he was going to sleep for the night. He was so excited! He desperately wanted to meet Dean properly and talk to him, he wanted to get to know him and learn about him and-he wanted to know why he’d never found out about him before.

Just from the little he’d seen of him, Seth just….thought he was incredibly cool. He was clearly strong-willed and stubborn and intense, and he’d looked so cool, too. A leather jacket and tight blue jeans and big boots, and a big boyfriend, too.

Seth blushed at the thought of Roman. He was...very, very handsome. And just as cool as Dean had seemed, with his own leather jacket and just...his everything. He was stunning. Seth squeezed the pillow and thought to himself. He’d find a way to talk to Dean. He had to. 

\---

Seth didn’t enter the kitchen immediately, instead hanging around the corner, listening to his parents. 

“-help them, I’m not a monster, Steph.”

“They come barging into our home after years and years of never speaking to you, wanting money, and you just assume they’re telling the truth?” 

His father sighed. 

“Trish is not the type of person who would ask for help unless she absolutely, completely needed it. I have no doubt that they’re telling the truth.”

“You’re really gonna do this?”

“Steph….I may not have raised him, but Dean is my son. I have a responsibility.”

Seth listened to his mother sigh deeply.

“Fine. That’s all on you, though. I’m not messing with this.”

“Fine. I’m gonna go see him tomorrow.”

“Where is he even staying? Him and his….friend.”

Seth frowned at her tone. He didn’t understand why she wasn’t as excited about this as he was.

“That Crown Jewel motel down by 122. They’re hoping to be here for about a week, seeing me was their first stop last night.”

Seth straightened up his posture at that. He ran back upstairs, getting dressed quickly and grabbing the keys to his car. 

\---

Seth pulled into the motel parking lot, parking next to what was the absolute coolest car he’d ever seen. He stepped out and looked at it, spotting a familiar leather jacket in the passenger seat. He stepped up to the door the car was parked in front of and he took a deep breath before lifting his hand to knock. 

There was no answer and he knocked again, waiting a few moment before the door swung open. Roman stood in front of him, hair messy and fluffy, his body fully displayed as he had nothing on but gym shorts. Seth’s eyes must have been comically huge, and his jaw dropped, and he caught Roman smirking.

“Hey.”

“Uh…….hi. Uh. Hi. I’m. Hi.”

Roman’s smirk softened to a smile and he leaned against the doorframe, his...truly huge arms crossed over his chest. Seth’s eyes traveled down to his stomach, swallowing. Roman was so thick and broad, and his stomach had a little pudge on it, the stance he was in accentuating it.

“What d’you need, kid?”

“Um….I just...I-sorry, I didn’t really come with-a plan or anything, uh-but-I wanted to...meet...you guys...I guess?”

Roman still looked sleepy as he huffed out a laugh.

“C’mon.”

He walked back into the room and Seth followed him, still hesitant, and spotted Dean sleeping on the bed. He looked like a very comfortable lump, and Roman flopped next to him. He nudged Dean’s shoulder with his head.

“Babe. We have a visitor.”

There was a groan, before Dean peeked up from the blankets and pillows he’d nested in. Seth swallowed, nervous, and he waved at him.

“Hi.”

“The hell’re you doing here?”

Roman nudged Dean with his knee.

“Be nice.”

Dean grumbled, but sat up, keeping one blanket wrapped around him. His hair was loose and fell around his shoulders, and he really did look just like Hunter when he was younger. 

“Hi.”

“Hello. Um. My name is Seth-uh-well, I go by Rollins, not either of my parents’ last names, but-I didn’t-I wanted to meet you, really meet you last night, but-”

“But Daddy didn’t want you talking to his long-lost fuck up of a son.”

Seth frowned. 

“Listen, Dean, I don’t know what the hell my dad wants. Not-with this, but-I don’t care, either. If-if you need help, I wanna help you guys get it-and-I don’t care if you’re a fuck up or not because I think you’re kinda really cool and I-I never had any siblings, and...this is all really weird for me.”

Seth dropped his gaze to the floor, chewing on his lips a little. He heard Dean sigh and looked back up to him. He was rubbing his forehead and he ran a hand through his hair. 

“Seth...I’m really not that cool.”

Seth shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted.

“You look really cool. And your car is really cool.”

He looked up at Dean and Roman, and Dean groaned, flopping back onto the bed.

“God damn it. He had to go and have a kid with the biggest goddamn wettest fuckin’ baby deer puppy eyes on the planet. Shit. Shit! Okay-fuck-”

Roman laughed and kissed Dean on the cheek. He looked back at Seth and grinned.

“I think that means he wants to hang out with you and get to know you too, Seth.”

Dean groaned again and pulled a pillow over his face, while Roman laughed again and stood, stretching, Seth blushing at….everything about that, really, and Roman very much noticed. 

“I’m gonna shower really quick and get dressed. Dean, if you wanna join me-”

Dean grumbled under the pillow and stood, too. 

“Yeah, I guess. Kid, you good hanging out for a couple minutes?”   
Seth nodded eagerly, blinking his big eyes at Dean. 

“Don’t go rooting through our stuff.”

“I promise.”

Seth sat at the foot of the bed, hands in his lap, smiling and feeling, so far, very positive about this experience. Roman and Dean went into the little bathroom and Seth just beamed, happy to sit and wait for them. He played a game on his phone and looked up at the sound of a quiet moan. He blushed and quickly pulled a pair of earbuds out of his jacket pocket, putting them in as fast as he could and playing some music. As attractive as Roman was, and even with how handsome Dean was, Dean was still his flesh and blood, and Seth would rather not think about him having sex.

A few flashes of Roman in the shower passed through his mind, though, and Seth blushed, focusing more on the game. It surely wasn’t appropriate to think about his brother’s boyfriend that way.

He heard the door open over his music and he pulled his earbuds out, looking at the two men. Dean was still shirtless, but Roman was fully dressed in sweats and a hoodie, and he sat next to Seth as he pulled his shoes on.

“So how’d you get down here?”

“Oh, uh-I drove.”

“What kinda car you got?”

“Charger Hellcat.”

Roman smiled, laughing a little. 

“Damn. Got a car like that at your age? That’s such a rich kid thing.”

Seth blushed, rubbing his arm a little, reaching up and brushing his hair behind his ear. 

“Uh….yeah, I guess.”

Roman nudged him with his elbow, his big brown eyes soft and warm.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m only teasing you, bud.”

Seth swallowed and curled into himself a little bit. He still felt a bit shy, but the two men hadn’t been mean to him so far. Dean dug through his bag for a shirt and finally found one, pulling it on and stretching his arms over his head. 

“You wanna go out for breakfast or something?”

“Sure! I’d-I’d really like that, uh-I know a really good place-”

“Wanna take our car?”

“The black one outside?”

Seth knew his eyes were once again wide and he smiled up at Dean, who had a proud sort of look on his face, his chest puffed out a little. Roman laughed where he was still sitting next to Seth.

“The Thunderbird is his baby.”

“Hey. It’s  _ our _ baby. We agreed to share custody if we ever get divorced.”

Seth looked between the two of them.

“Are-are you two...married?”

Dean’s laugh was loud and Roman rolled his eyes at Dean, standing and moving next to him. He kissed Dean’s cheek and nuzzled his hair. 

“No, but he likes to joke about it.”

Dean pulled Roman in for a proper kiss and Seth looked down at the floor. He really thought they were a sweet couple, from the little he’d seen them. Just knowing that Roman had traveled however far just to help Dean made it clear what kind of relationship they had. Seth followed them out to the car, sliding into the backseat and running his hand over the smooth leather interior. 

“Wow…”

“Yeah, that’s what everyone says the first time.”

Seth gave Roman directions, putting on his seatbelt when Roman told them both to. Seth chewed on his lip for a second. 

“Where do you guys live?”

“Colorado. I was born there, Rome moved there in like-what was it?”

“Second grade.”   
“Yeah, and we met then, too.”   
“How long have you guys been...you know-together?”

“Uh….”

Roman stopped at a stoplight, and Seth could hear the smile in his tone.   
“We’ve been best friends since second grade, and we realized we were in love in seventh grade, and have been together ever since.”

Seth bit his lip, smiling at the story.

“How old are you guys?”

“Ro’s twenty-six, I’m twenty-five.”

Seth was a little surprised at that. He hadn’t expected there to be such a gap between him and the two men, but he supposed it shouldn’t be that shocking. It made more sense as to why Hunter had never said anything about Dean. Dean reached for the radio and Roman groaned.

“Baby….”

“I promise I won’t put it on the country station.”

Seth watched as Roman shot Dean a quick look, and Dean had on what was the most  _ obviously _ falsely sweet smile that Seth had ever seen in his life. Seth covered his mouth with his hand, trying to mask the giggle he let out as Dean turned the volume up high, the loud, accented voice of a country singer blasting through the car. 

“Dean!”

Dean looked over the back of his seat, grinning wide at Seth.

“He acts like he hates it, but he’s from fuckin’ Florida. He loves country music.”

“No-hey, I love real country music, not this-whatever this new crap is.”

Dean smiled at Roman, bright and damn near angelic, and Seth was...struck. He knew he very likely looked very much like a child in the eyes of the two men in the car, but he didn’t feel like he minded that. He still couldn’t believe, as they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, that the man in the passenger seat...was really his brother. His flesh and blood, real brother. Even if Dean only shared genes with Seth through their father, Seth still was so wholly and completely taken with the idea of having a brother. 

Roman and Dean followed Seth into the restaurant, and Seth had the hostess take them to a booth. He didn’t particularly care, but he got a strong vibe from Roman and Dean that they preferred booths. They sat on one side, Seth on the other, still looking at them with wide, bright eyes. He watched as Roman effortlessly and easily wrapped an arm around Dean’s tiny waist and pulled him a little closer, both of them looking at one menu. 

“Christ, this place is pricey.”   
“Don’t worry about it, I’m buying.”

Both men looked at Seth, eyebrows raised.

“Thanks...uh…”

“Don’t worry about it, I like buying stuff for people.”

Dean snorted.

“Wish other rich folks were like that.”

Roman looked at him with a curious expression, but an intense one-Roman seemed to have an air of intensity around him at most times, somehow simultaneously coming off as laid-back-and Seth blushed. 

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why do you like spending money on people? Not meaning offense, but Dean’s right. Most people with money don’t like to part with it.”

They all thanked the waitress as she brought them their drinks, and Seth poked at the ice with his straw. 

“Uh...I mean...I guess it honestly kinda helps that I’m not really wanting for anything? Like, you know...Mom and Dad are really wealthy, so...I don’t need much, as it is, and I know other people do, and-I dunno, guess it seems right to share that? I mean-I got lucky, it’s not like I worked for what I have-but other people didn’t get lucky, so why should they have to go without? Just cause they weren’t born into it doesn’t mean like-no one should have to go without, I guess. And-I think this is gonna sound...maybe dumb or douchey or something but I think it helps that like-it’s not my money, you know? I’m okay with spending it because it’s my parents and I don’t have to worry about it.”

Seth was completely red-faced at this point, and shyly met Roman’s gaze. He looked….approving, for the most part, of Seth’s answer, and Dean nudged his leg with his foot under the table.

“Not a bad answer, kid. And-listen, I got my problems with Hunter-”

Hearing Dean refer to their father by their first name was odd.

“-but you seem like a good kid. You don’t gotta worry about me and Roman thinking you’re a douchebag, and-shit, you’d really have to work really hard to get us to think that.”

Seth smiled and sipped at his juice. The waitress came back and they ordered-Dean and Roman ordering more food upon Seth’s insistence that it’d be fine, and Dean pulled a piece of ice out of Roman’s drink and popped it into his mouth.

“So what’re you like, though? You in school?”

Seth nodded, listening as Dean crunched on the ice. 

“Uh-yeah, I’m a senior in high school for about three more months, and I got my acceptance letter to the college I wanted to go to, so in the fall I’m gonna be there.”

“What’re you gonna major in?”

Seth cleared his throat, once again embarrassed. 

“Uh….I haven’t really told Mom and Dad yet, but-cause they kinda want me to go into business stuff like they did, but...I’m gonna go into theater.”

“You an actor?”

Seth was a little shocked at the lack of unsupportive reaction; it’s not that his parents were disappointed, really, in his interests, but Seth knew what they wanted his life to look like. Roman and Dean, however, just continued to pay attention to him, Roman checking a few things on his phone, Dean steadily eating the ice in Roman’s drink. 

“Uh...y-yeah, I-I’m….the lead in my school’s play that’s coming up-I actually have to go up for rehearsals later today. But-yeah. I really, really like doing it.”

“What play?”

“MacBeth.”

Roman and Dean’s eyes both widened.

“Really? You’re playing the lead in that?”

Seth nodded. He found himself blushing a lot, with these two, unable to fight the bashfulness at these two imminently cool people thinking anything about him was impressive. 

“Yeah. Uh-I..I’m okay, at it-uh...I guess I just kinda enjoy it.”

Dean tilted his head and reached over, stealing a piece of ice out of Seth’s drink.

“Seth, bud, you really don’t have to talk down your interests. We’re not gonna judge you or make fun of you or anything.”

Seth stared down at the table. He really wasn’t used to that, of all things, to people telling him it was okay to just be interested in the things he was interested in. Again, his parents weren’t generally disappointed, but they weren’t overly supportive or enthusiastic about his choices, either. Seth swallowed and coughed a little. 

“Uh...thanks..”

He felt something hit his forehead and jumped, looking at the straw wrapper sitting on the table. He stared at Dean, who grinned and pointed his thumb at Roman.

“He did it.”

Roman wiped the condensation from his glass on his hand, smearing the water over Dean’s cheek. 

“Shut up, no I didn’t-”

Seth giggled and watched the two of them play around for a bit, Dean’s hair coming out of its hair tie and both men laughing. It didn’t take long for their food to get there, and Roman and Dean didn’t hesitate to dig in, eating mostly with their hands. Seth watched, again in wonder. He wasn’t used to this. Even Uncle Shawn used utensils, and he was the most rough and tumble of all of Seth’s family. 

Up until now. 

Seth blinked as he felt a piece of egg hit him in the face. 

“Eat your food, kid.”

Seth blushed, doing as Dean said. He was hungry, and he hated acting on an empty stomach. 

“So when’s your play?”

“Uh...we open in two weeks.”

“Cool. How long have you been into theater?”

Seth chewed and thought. 

“Um….probably as far back as I can remember? I just...really like it, I know it’s silly and not a good future-”

“Seth.”

Seth looked at Roman, the intensity of Roman’s gaze once again making Seth feel a little airy. 

“Y-yes?”

“Don’t act like something important to you isn’t. I don’t know who in your life-”

“Take a guess, Rome.”

“-who in your life made you think you had to...degrade your own interests, but you don’t have to with us. It’s okay to be excited, like Dean was saying. We’re not gonna make fun of you. I mean, shit, if I were talking about how I was an actor and passionate about it, would you make fun of me?”

Seth shook his head, eyes cast down at the table.

“Then we won’t do that to you. Dean might make some dumbass comments-”

“That is my specialty.”

“-but, you can be excited and passionate around us. It’s okay.”

Seth glanced up at the two men, nodding. A shy smile found its way to his face and he bit his lip.

“I really, really like acting, it’s my favorite thing to do and I know a lot about movie history and I like being on stage-”

Seth found himself talking for a solid forty-five minutes about his love of acting and all of the shows that he’d been a part of, all of the ones he’d watched, how he’d dragged his parents to Broadway shows one year on a trip to New York. He felt relaxed, he’d never had someone who would just sit and listen to him, other than Shawn. 

“-and-and my uncle, he-well, he’s not really my uncle, he’s kind of dad’s best friend and boyfriend-”

“What?”

Seth stopped, staring at Dean. Both he and Roman both had odd looks on their faces, though Roman’s was more subtle.

“Uh….I was saying my Uncle Shawn was one of the reasons I got into it-”

“He’s Hunter’s boyfriend?”

“I thought that lady last night was Hunter’s wife?”

Seth tilted his head.

“She...is? Mom and Dad have been married since before they had me. I forget how long Dad has been with Shawn, though. I think longer?”

“And….your mom’s okay with that?”

Seth shrugged, popping an apple slice into his mouth.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t she be?”

Dean huffed.

“Huh. Maybe dear ol’ Dad isn’t as tightly wound as I thought.”

Seth fiddled with his fork, pushing the few bits of food left on his plate around. 

“Um...Dean...can-when was the last time you and Dad talked? Before this.”

Dean was quiet and Seth watched as Roman grabbed Dean’s hand, calling for the waitress. 

“We need to go if we’re gonna talk about that.”

Seth understood, happily paying the bill and leaving a very generous tip before they headed out to the car. He sat in the backseat, watching as Roman leaned over and gave Dean a kiss after he put his seatbelt on. They really were a beautiful couple, and more in love than Seth had ever seen two people. It wasn’t a long drive back to the motel, and Seth followed the two men inside. Dean sat on the bed, curling up against the headboard, while Roman sat next to him. 

“Hunter and I haven’t talked since I was nineteen.”

“It’s been that long?”

“We’ve never really-me and him ain’t ever had a really consistent relationship. He would occasionally hit us up to-I dunno, check up on us, but the last time-I got into a real big fight with him.”

Seth sat across from Dean and Roman on the bed, the three of them sitting in a sort of triangle. 

“What about?”

Dean sighed.

“Mostly about me trying to-I was in a bad place, mentally-and Hunter don’t know how to deal with that. He doesn’t. Never has, was one of the reasons-least I think it was one of the reasons...he never really wanted anything to do with me.”

Seth tilted his head. 

“What d’you mean?”

“I mean I’m crazy and it makes him uncomfortable and he’s never wanted to deal with-all the bullshit I always put everyone through-”

“Dean, hey-”

“I know, I know, Rome-sorry. I know. ‘m not supposed to blame myself-it’s hard not to.”

Seth frowned. 

“I….you have...stuff like that too?”

Roman and Dean both looked at him, Dean’s eyes wide.

“‘Too’? Do you-”

Seth brought his knees up to his chest, nodding quietly.

“I...yeah. I’ve had-I know what you mean. Dad’s not-I mean, he never made it worse, but-he doesn’t know how to deal with that, and-I-I’ve had some bad problems, with-I’ve hurt myself a lot and I’ve got a lot of weird-I don’t know-guilt issues or something-”

“You really are my brother, kid.”

Seth felt warm at the words and he pressed his face against his forearms, blushing and smiling. 

“I wanna be. I-Dad’s probably gonna be pissed that I came down here, but-I’m happy I did. I really-I’m really happy I hung out with you guys. Do-uh-do you guys think we could-I could hang out with you again? Before...I guess before you leave.”

“Absolutely-”

“We’d love to, Seth-”

They both spoke at the same time and it only made Seth blush a little harder. Dean and Roman really liked him, they wanted to be around him more. His  _ brother _ wanted to hang out with him.

“We’re probably gonna be here for about a week, if-whenever you want, you can come down.”

“I can skip school one day and you guys can come over, I-I’d like that.”

Roman and Dean glanced at each other.

“Bud, I don’t know if your dad would like it if me and Dean came to his house-”

“Please? I promise it’ll be fine-”

“Maybe, kid. For now-let’s just chill until you gotta go to rehearsals.”

Roman turned on the tv and Seth and Dean sat next to each other, sharing a bag of miniature candy bars that Dean apparently insisted on keeping around all the time. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we talk about things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all this is an emotionally heavy chapter, and there's also some fairly explicit discussions of past rape and discussions of homophobic bullying. tread lightly.
> 
> also, sex happens right at the start.

 

Dean kissed Roman, licking at his lips, but...not really feeling it. Roman, thankfully, sensed that, and he pulled away, sitting back on Dean’s lap.

“What’s wrong? Just not hot, or something on your mind?”

Dean sighed, running his hands up and down Roman’s sides, squeezing at the soft pudge that sat above his hips.

“Stuff on my mind, I guess. I-”

“It’s about your parents, ain’t it?”

Dean nodded. He had been trying to not let it all get to him, but it was difficult. He’d talked to his mom last night-she’d chewed him out for disappearing and going off to find Hunter, for asking him for help. He didn’t really blame her. He’d chewed himself out plenty for the same reason. No part of him ever really wanted to contact his dad, not since they stopped talking years ago. Dean had been in the worst state possible and Hunter had just exacerbated it, even if he hadn’t meant to, and Dean had just. Cut him out. 

After meeting Seth, Dean kind of regretted it. Maybe if he’d stuck closer to Hunter, worked harder to get along with him, he’d’ve met Seth sooner, and they could have been brothers for a much longer time. There was still a lot of resentment, towards Hunter, towards his wife, but...Dean just couldn’t bring himself to feel that way about Seth. The kid was so damn nice, if a little brash, with a hell of an ego sometimes, but he was inherently good. Dean knew it. 

He had to admit to himself, he was….kind of taken with the idea of being a big brother, even if it was a little frightening. The responsibility of it, of being a good role model for Seth, knowing he needed to be a good example. He hoped he would be, he wanted Seth to like him. 

Roman ran his hands over Dean’s chest, up to his neck so he could rub his shoulders. Dean leaned his head back and groaned, feeling the muscles relax.

“You want me to give you a rubdown, honey?”

“Yes, please.”

Roman leaned in and kissed him on the nose and on the lips before standing, helping Dean strip his clothes off. Dean laid on his front, letting his eyes drift shut as Roman started working his big, warm hands over Dean’s neck and shoulders. 

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Mmmm….maybe. Little bit.”

Roman kept steadily rubbing at his muscles, brushing Dean’s hair over one shoulder. He leaned down to kiss Dean’s neck and Dean grinned.

“I know he said he’d help, but-I’m worried he’s gonna-pull the rug out from under us or something.”

“You want me to talk, or you want this to just be you?”

“You know I wanna know what you think, baby.”

Roman’s hands moved down to his ribcage, pressing his knuckles into the middle of Dean’s back, drawing a long moan out of him.

“Fuck, Rome-”

“Mhm, knew that would get you. I think….I don’t think he’s gonna up and run on this. He seemed really impressed at how much we’d already gotten paid off, how much work we’d put into it. And-I don’t….”

Dean opened his eyes, looking over his shoulder and blinking at Roman.

“What?”

“Well...I think he’s not...I don’t think he’s...that bad of a guy, to do that.”

Dean did tense up again, but not as much as he would have if he wasn’t currently being massaged by the love of his life-slash-best friend.

“I didn’t wanna make you get stressed again-”

“It’s okay, baby-’m not mad, just...you know how I feel about Hunter.”   
“I know, that’s why-I don’t think he’s a great guy overall, I just...don’t think he’s so cruel that he’d promise the help and then take it away.”

Dean sighed and closed his eyes again.

“I mean...I guess, yeah. He’s never been….that bad. But-it’s just hard to trust him.”

“I can imagine, honey.”

Roman dug his knuckles deeper into the sides of Dean’s spine, and Dean arched his back up, gasping as the pressure released. 

“Oh fuck-gettin’ some real confusing feelings, talking about my dad while-oh-fuck-while you do that-”

Roman laughed, a low, deep laugh in his chest and Dean felt his face flush.

“Well, we could always talk about other things…”

Dean bit his lip, arching his back again. 

“Like what?”

“I could tell you how gorgeous you look right now, all bare and beautiful.”

Dean blushed and hid his face. Even after more than a decade of being together, they still knew how to make each other feel shy, just like the first time they’d been intimate. 

“Could talk about everything I wanna do with you right now.”

“Oh-fuck, Ro-what-what d’you wanna do to me?”

Roman’s fingers gently ran down, over the curve of Dean’s ass and all the way to the back of his knees, touching him so that he could just barely feel it.

“Wanna finish rubbing you down so you’re relaxed, that way it’ll feel even better when I spread those thick, perfect thighs and eat you out.”

Dean groaned, rocking his hips against the mattress. He hadn’t been in the mood before this, but he should’ve known Roman could get him going easily. Roman kept on massaging him, squeezing at the muscles in his thighs and calves, paying special attention to his knees and hips, all of his joints as Roman moved back up his body. He was being thorough, and Dean was kept just on the edge of arousal, hard but not needy. Not yet, at least. If Roman kept to his word and ate Dean out-which, God, Dean really hoped he would-then he’d be begging soon. 

They’d had sex a few times since they got there, because they generally couldn’t keep their hands off each other, but it wasn’t quite their usual regularity. Dean hummed, shaking his hips a little, smiling when Roman laughed.

“Hold on, honey, damn-”

Dean easily spread his legs for Roman as he shifted to lay between Dean’s thighs. Dean felt Roman nuzzle his ass and he grinned.

“Cute.”

“Can’t help it. Haven’t done this in a while.”

Which was true, Roman was usually on the receiving end of this. Not that Dean didn’t enjoy it, he loved it, but Roman  _ really _ loved it, and Dean loved doing it. He tilted his hips up as Roman spread him, leaning in to rub his beard against the sensitive skin. Dean cried out and tried to move his hips away, the sensation so immediately overwhelming. 

“Nnn-fuck-Roman!”   
“Like that?”

“Oh-fuck, please do that again-”

Roman obliged, his chin grazing Dean’s hole before he licked over it in one broad stroke-God, his tongue was huge, Dean loved it-then another, over and over, just getting his hole wet, getting him slicked up with spit.

“Mmm-Roman-Roooo-baby c’mon-”

Roman laughed against him and shoved the tip of his tongue into Dean, working the full muscle into him slowly, moaning against Dean’s hole when he finally pressed his lips against the skin. Dean may do this more, but Roman was just as good at it, and he went after it every time. Dean felt his cock throb against the mattress and he rocked his hips, trying to get more of Roman’s tongue while still rubbing himself against the almost-rough blanket. 

“Rome-oh-keep going, want it more-”

Roman pulled away from him, spitting on his hole and using his fingers to rub it in. 

“You want more than my tongue, or you wanna come like this?”

“Nn-oh-uh-wanna come in your mouth, Rome-”

He could feel Roman smiling against him and he groaned. 

“Tell me when you’re close, baby-”

Roman pressed one of his fingers into Dean, the slide easy with how wet he’d gotten him. He pushed his tongue in alongside it, spreading Dean and sucking on his rim, the dual sensation of that and being fingered quickly pushing Dean to the edge. He reached back and tangled his fingers in Roman’s hair, pulling him away.

“Oh-oh-baby I’m close I need-”

Roman quickly maneuvered Dean onto his side, moving one of Dean’s legs over his shoulder, wrapping his lips around Dean’s cock and sucking hard. 

“Oh fuck-”

Dean looked down at Roman, moving his hands to Roman’s hair, gasping when Roman started rubbing his tongue over Dean’s cock.   
“‘m-I’m gonna come-fuck-baby-”

Dean squeezed his eyes shut and his abdomen tightened as he came, cock pulsing in Roman’s mouth. It took a minute to come back to himself afterward, petting one hand over Roman’s head, Roman pulling off of him and nuzzling his hip, kissing the small tattoo there.

“C’mere, Rome-”

Roman scooted up the bed, until they were face to face, and Dean didn’t hesitate to kiss Roman deeply. After thirteen years, they’d gotten used to everything about each other, and kissing after oral sex was far from the weirdest thing they did. Dean reached down, shoving Roman’s shorts down and gripping Roman’s cock in one hand, pumping it slowly. Roman inhaled quietly, putting one leg over Dean’s hips. 

“Oh-Dean-please-”

Dean grinned, kissing and sucking at Roman’s neck and stroking him faster, rubbing his thumb over the dripping head of his thick, gorgeous cock, toying at the slit. Roman panted, still quiet, rolling his hips and thrusting into Dean’s fist, showing that he was close. It never took Dean long to get Roman off, and he reached his other hand down, gently playing with Roman’s balls, rubbing his fingertips just behind them and moving his hand in the way he knew would get Roman.

“Oh-oh-mm-oh-oh!”   
Roman always made the sweetest noises when he came, thick come shooting over Dean’s hand. He pressed his face to Dean’s shoulder, letting out a quiet whimper.

“Rome?”

“‘m okay-just-always feels so goddamn-’s always perfect with you-”   
Dean felt warmth surge through his core and he wrapped one arm around Roman, his clean hand gripping his shoulder. 

“That’s cause you’re perfect. Absolutely perfect, Roman.”

Roman whined and wrapped his arms around Dean’s waist, while Dean licked his hand clean. They held each other for a while, and Dean’s thoughts turned to-as they had been the past three days-the situation with his family. Roman must have sensed it, because he kissed at Dean’s neck, moving back just enough to look at him.

“Honey?”

Dean mustered up as much of a smile as he could and kissed the flat bridge of Roman’s nose.

“Just...still got my mind elsewhere, sorry.”

“‘s okay. Wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t know, man. I want….I don’t know what I want.”

And he didn’t. He honestly didn’t, and the main thing that threw him for a loop in this whole process was Seth. Dean sighed.

“Roman….do you...do you think it’d be wrong if-if we stayed a bit longer?”

“You wanna stay because of Seth, don’t you?”

His tone wasn’t judgemental-of course not, they hadn’t ever judged each other for anything-he just sounded...like he knew. 

“I mean...yeah, I-I don’t know. I feel like-I feel like I have to, like I gotta be there for him. I want to. I know he’s got his parents and that Shawn guy, but…”

Dean swallowed, moving to lay on his back. Roman followed, pulling his hair to one side and leaning up on his elbow to watch Dean.

“But?”

“But-I missed the first eighteen years of his-maybe if I’d gotten along with Hunter more I coulda been there for him-I could’ve had a brother this whole time-”

“Honey, you can’t feel bad about that. You didn’t even know, Hunter never told you about him. I...I really wish he had, cause I know you would’ve jumped at the chance to be a part of Seth’s life from the start, but-that shouldn’t stop you from taking every opportunity to be a part of it now.”

Dean sniffled. He wished Hunter had told him, that he’d known and that he’d been able to be the older brother that he was. He didn’t even know why he so immediately took to Seth, but he did. They’d even been texting each other and had followed each other on social media and they were going to go hang out with Seth multiple days this week. Dean didn’t usually-well, he wouldn’t go so far as to say that he didn’t like other people, but he didn’t go out of his way to make time for most people, other than a few close friends. And Roman, but that really went without saying. He still didn’t connect with people easily, but he had immediately connected with Seth. They had...so, so much in common, all these tiny things and some bigger things.

Like their respective...issues. Dean had always been messed up in the head, and Seth was, too, but he seemed more afraid of it. It only made Dean want to be around him more, to show him it’d be okay.

Roman leaned down and kissed Dean’s cheek. 

“You wanna go get something to eat, honey?”

Dean really loved that that was Roman’s special term of endearment, that he only ever used when they were alone. It made him feel warm and soft all over, and he nodded. 

“Yeah. Cool if I see if Seth is free?”

Roman smiled, standing and pulling Dean with him.

“You never have to ask, not for that.”

\---

Seth sat on the counter and kicked his feet back and forth. Aleister handed him the bowl of batter and wiped his hands on a towel, leaning against another part of the counter.

“And your dad says he’s gonna help them out?”

Seth nodded, licking at the leftover batter on the spoon. 

“Mhm. He says he’s gotta talk to Dean’s mom, but he wants to.”

Aleister was quiet-he usually was, he didn’t talk a lot, ever-and he looked thoughtful. 

“How does your mom feel about all this?”

Seth frowned, his shoulders dropping. 

“I...I don’t know. I don’t think she likes Dean or Roman very much.”

She sure didn’t seem to, at least. Whenever Dean and Roman had come over to hang out with Seth, Stephanie would find some other place to be. Seth didn’t really get it; Dean and Roman were so much fun and so cool, and Dean was his brother. Seth never wanted them to leave. 

“Give her time. She’ll come around.”

Aleister patted Seth on the shoulder and Seth nodded, managing a small smile. Aleister was good at making him feel better. He put the bowl in the sink and thanked Aleister, running into the foyer at the sound of the door opening. 

“Uncle Shawn!”

He jumped into his uncle’s arms, and Shawn easily caught him, laughing and spinning him around. 

“Hey, you act like I’ve been off to war-”

Seth pulled away and stared up at his uncle-Shawn still had a few inches of height on him, and he blinked wide eyes up at him. 

“I haven’t gotten to see you all week, and-I got so much to tell you-”

Shawn smiled, wrapping an arm around Seth’s shoulders.

“Let me get some coffee, and you can fill me in on what’s been going on. Hunter mentioned...a few things.”

Seth couldn’t even frown at the tone in Shawn’s voice, and he left up to his room to wait for him. It was a few minutes before Shawn came in, closing the door behind him and sitting on the couch in Seth’s room. 

“So. What’s the hot gossip?”

Seth giggled and sat on the edge of his bed, facing Shawn, unable to keep from bouncing up and down a little in excitement.

“I have a brother!”

Shawn smiled and sipped at his coffee.

“I’ve heard you’ve been hanging out with him a lot.”

Seth nodded, still bouncing with excitement. 

“He’s so so cool, and he’s got a really cool boyfriend and car and he listens to me talk about all the stuff I like, even the boring stuff-he’s really-”

Seth couldn’t even think of words for Dean, not any that really felt right. 

“Dean’s always been a good kid.”

That made Seth stop his movements, and he stared at Shawn, tilting his head.

“W-what do you mean ‘always’?”

Shawn sighed, but wasn’t tense. He looked as relaxed as always.

“I was around when he was born, met him a handful of times up until..well.”

“Wha-you...you knew?”

Seth felt his breathing pick up, and Shawn caught on immediately, coming over to the bed and wrapping an arm around Seth’s shoulders. As much as Seth kind of wanted to be mad at Shawn, he couldn’t be. 

“Hey, breathe, buddy. I’m sorry for never telling you-I am-but Hunter thought it’d be best for everyone if no one knew about Dean. I mean-I never really agreed, but he wasn’t about to change his mind.”

Seth blinked against a sudden and unnoticed wetness in his eyes. 

“Why? Dean is his son, just like-just like I am-I don’t-does that mean he’d do that to me-”

“Oh, Seth-”

Shawn pulled Seth into a proper hug, and Seth buried his face against Shawn’s shoulder. The clean, almost outdoors-scent that always hung on Shawn was eternally soothing, it always had been, and Seth held him tight.

“Seth...the situation with Dean was unique. He-Trish wanted nothing to do with Hunter, not really-Dean hadn’t been planned and she was mad at Hunter for-well, for a lot. And then, when Dean was older, he….he really fought Hunter a lot, on everything. He didn’t want anything to do with him either-and I’m not gonna lie: Hunter weren’t exactly free of sin on this one. He didn’t handle the situation well, and-”

Shawn sighed, petting a hand over Seth’s hair. 

“-I’ve never really liked….this whole thing. Like I said, I’ve met Dean a few times, when he was younger. The kid had...a lot of problems. He needed help. He needed more than he had, and Hunter could have given him that, but-Dean really inherited your dad’s stubborn streak. It was a tough spot for everyone, but Trish and Hunter both agreed, after he and Dean’s falling out, that it would be best to just cut off contact. But, Seth-I can guarantee that he’d never do that to you. Hunter loves you more than anything, anything, in this entire world.”

Seth wanted to believe him, and a part of him did-the part that loved his father unconditionally knew that it was true-but after everything with Dean, it was hard not to have doubts. Seth pulled away from Shawn and sniffled, rubbing at his nose with the back of his hand.

“I just-I really-I could have had a brother this whole time and-I feel like I’ve lost so much time with Dean-”

“Hey, hey, don’t go thinking that way. You’re only eighteen, Seth, Dean ain’t that old, either. He ain’t like me or your dad.”

Seth had to give a small smile at that, at least.

“-you guys have plenty of time to get to know each other and you have more than enough time to be brothers.”

Seth nodded. 

“I-I guess...I just...still feel sad about it.”

“And you get to. Even knowing how all of this happened, I know it’s still a shitty situation. And I know it’s gotta be hard for you. You get to be upset about this, and you get to-cause I know you’re gonna-you get to be mad at your dad. It...what he did-how he handled Dean wasn’t right. I know that makes you afraid, hearing all this, but you just have to trust that Hunter loves you and that he’d never, ever leave you like that.”   
Seth sniffled again and nodded. 

“I-it’s just hard. Dean’s his kid as much as I am, and-I don’t see why Dad doesn’t love him-”

Shawn let out a sad sigh.

“Part of him does. Don’t go getting it into your head that Hunter hates Dean. He doesn’t-I’ll say honestly that I don’t think he loves Dean as much as you-but when Dean was born...Hunter really wasn’t ready for-he wasn’t ready to be a dad. He still wanted to help at least a little, sending money and occasionally visiting. I think-I know that if he’d been ready, then he’d love Dean every bit as much as he loves you. And-maybe he will, someday. Those two have a lot they need to work out.”

Seth nodded. He was going to stay mad at his dad, at least for a little while, but he didn’t love his father any less. If anything, he just loved Dean even more. Shawn ruffled his hair and that made Seth smile a little bit, especially paired with the smell of brownies being cooked downstairs. 

“Why don’t you tell me a little more about Dean, bud? I haven’t seen him in a long time, I’d like to know how he’s doing.”

“He’s-he really is the coolest person ever, he’s really strong an’ funny and he’s smart-I don’t think he thinks he is, but he is-and he doesn’t ever make me feel bad about talking about stuff I’m interested in, neither does Roman-”

“Roman would be the boyfriend?”

Seth blushed. 

“Y-yeah. He’s….a lot. Uh-not-he’s-he’s very nice.”

Shawn laughed, sipping at his coffee as Seth rambled on and on about Dean and Roman.

\---

Dean grunted and thrusted into Roman, putting his palm flat on the small of Roman’s back, reaching up with his other hand and tangling it in Roman’s hair, pulling on the long black locks hard. 

“Oh-oh! Dean-nnnn-please Dean please honey I need to come-”

Dean grinned, thrusting faster, harder, gripping Roman’s hair tighter. 

“Fuck-fuck, Ro-goddamn it-c’mon then-”

He smacked Roman’s ass and Roman gasped, and Dean felt him tighten and pulse around him, the muscles in Roman’s thighs visibly tensing. Dean put both of his hands on Roman’s shoulders, changing his leverage, the muscles in his abdomen tightening-

And his phone rang. 

Dean would have ignored it in favor of filling his boyfriend up with come, if not for it having been the ringtone he’d assigned Seth. He knew, from Seth’s own admission, that he rarely ever called, only doing so when he was distressed or hurt. 

“Fuck-”

“Go-fuck, go answer it.”

Roman caught his breath and Dean groaned, pulling his phone out of his jacket-he’d tossed it across the room in his eagerness to get at least halfway undressed, and he answered it.

“Kid, what’s up, me and Roman were-”

“Can you come get-”

Seth’s voice sounded wet and he sniffled, and the little switch in Dean’s brain immediately went from hot and bothered to concerned. 

“Seth? What’s wrong?”

“Just-can you come get me? ‘m at school-”

“We’ll be there in a few.”

“I’m on the side of the auditorium outside.”

Dean hung up and started pulling his clothes back on. Roman had sat on the floor, not bothering to dress, and he looked up at Dean curiously.

“What’s going on?”

“I dunno, Seth just-sounded like something was wrong-”

“Where’s he at?”

“School. Gonna go get him.”

Roman stood, pulling his jeans back on-there was still an ounce of Dean’s brain that was sad at the tan skin being covered once again-and he quickly cleaned up his mess with a towel, the two of them heading out to the car. Roman drove and followed Dean’s directions-the drive to the school took fifteen minutes, even with Roman driving faster than usual. Dean knew he was speeding to ease Dean’s worry, because Dean wore his emotions on his sleeve and was obviously broadcasting his worry. 

They parked and got out, looking around the buildings. One said auditorium on the side, with someone’s name dedicated on it, and Dean and Roman walked around until they saw a young man curled up, sitting against the wall, hiding his face in his arms. 

“Seth!”

He looked up and Dean immediately felt anger rush through his veins. Seth had a busted lip and a huge bruise on his eye that was already swelling. Dean and Roman ran over to him and kneeled on either side, Roman setting to checking out the injuries. 

“Seth, Christ-what happened?”

“Got beat up.”

“Yeah, but-fuck, dude, why? Who did this?”

Seth didn’t look either of them in the eye. 

“Cause-there’s a couple of guys here-they….guess they don’t like me. This happens sometimes.”

“Your parents have to know about this, right? Why didn’t you call them?”

Seth turned his head down, trying-as far as Dean could tell-to hide behind his hair. 

“They-they know it happens, but-Mom thinks I need to learn how to fight an’ defend myself-Dad has tried to get the guys to stop, but...they don’t.”

“Why do they do it? Do they say anything?”

“Yeah, they say a lot of stuff. Don’t really mind when they make fun of me for being rich, but-”

Seth’s bottom lip started wobbling and he started crying, and Dean wrapped his arms around him, being careful of the bruises. 

“-they know-they beat me up cause I’m-I’m gay, and-I try to fight ‘em every time I swear I do-”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay, Seth-we’ll take care of this-”

Dean and Roman made eye contact, and Roman nodded. 

“-we’ll take care of this, don’t worry. C’mon. We’re gonna get you home and get you cleaned up, then we’re gonna talk strategy, alright?”

Seth nodded against him and Dean kissed the top of his head, helping him stand up. He sat with Seth in the backseat on the way to Seth’s house, letting Seth lean against him the entire way. Seth had never told them about this, about any sort of bullying, but...he also hadn’t told them he was gay. Dean had guessed his brother wasn’t straight, from the way he sometimes interacted with Roman-though it well could have been that Roman just had that effect on people-but of course, it wasn’t at all Seth’s obligation to tell them. Dean squeezed Seth tight. He may not have known Seth for long, but he knew now that he  _ hated _ seeing his brother hurt. 

It was on par with his reaction to seeing Roman hurt, and that said a lot. 

Seth let them into the house and they followed him upstairs to his room-after grabbing an ice pack from the freezer-Roman heading into the bathroom to get supplies to clean his face. 

“Sorry for-taking you guys away from what you were doing-”

“No, dude, don’t worry about it. It-it wasn’t anything that can’t be done later. I just-whenever something like this happens, you can always call me. Or Roman. Even if-shit, we can be in different states and both of us would bust ass to come out here, alright? Any time.”

Seth didn’t react as Roman cleaned his face. Dean grabbed more comfortable clothes for Seth and he changed, pulling his blanket around himself. Dean and Roman sat on the bed with him, making sure he held the ice pack against his bruise. 

“What happened exactly?”

“It-it’s always the same few guys. They just....guess they don’t like that I’m-yeah, and-I don’t know. They caught me on my way to class and dragged me outside and-I really did try to fight-I don’t ever just take it-”

“Seth.”   
Dean watched as Seth quieted at Roman’s voice, at the hint of a gentle command.

“You don’t have to convince us that you fought back. It’s not your job to fight back. It’s other people’s job to make sure their kids aren’t bullying people. You don’t have to-you don’t have to feel bad about not being able to handle this on your own.”

That seemed to set off a fresh wave of tears and Dean moved to hold Seth again, still being careful of the wounds on his face. 

“I just-I feel weak and stupid and-I feel so weak but there’s four of them an’ three of ‘em are  bigger than me and I swear I try-and I know it’s not-not my fault but-I hate feeling helpless-”

Dean and Roman looked at each other, and Roman took a deep breath. 

“I know how you feel.”

Seth looked at him and blinked, brown eyes wet and wide. 

“Hard-hard to believe someone like you could ever feel helpless.”   
Roman smiled, a sad half-smile, and Dean knew what he was about to tell Seth. 

“Lots of people do when they’ve been raped.”

Dean felt Seth tense against his side. 

“Wh-you were-”

“Yeah. Few times. There was a guy-never liked him, he was an ass-but we worked at the same place and, one night, he followed me outside after our shift was done, and….I was so-I was so messed up after the first time, I just-went home. Didn’t go to the hospital or anything. Then-next day, it happened again, cause I was in shock. Didn’t even really realize it happened more than once until someone caught it happening. They thought we were just having sex at first, but...it started being obvious that something was wrong when I wouldn’t-talk or move. I-when it happened, I-I really, really blamed myself for it. I thought-you know, why couldn’t I stop it? Why couldn’t I-even though I fought the first time, it still happened, and I felt...I hated myself for not being able to fight him off.”

Dean listened quietly. That had been….a very rough time for them.

“I mean-he got arrested and sent to jail, which...you’d think would help more than it does. And for a long time after that, I just-I felt like I was incapable of anything. I know how it feels when other people take-when other people make you feel powerless. And-this isn’t some kind of pain Olympics, I’m not trying to make your problems seem insignificant or some shit, just trying to explain that I know how you feel. So does Dean.”

Seth looked up at Dean with huge eyes.

“Were you-”

“Nah. But-what happened to Roman-it...it messed me up-pretty bad. I felt like-you know, me and Ro-we’ve been protecting each other since we were kids. Helping each other. And-I felt like I let him down. Like-God, it took a few years of therapy for either of us to get back to even mostly-normal.”

Dean knew they were a lucky case, in how thoroughly they’d recovered-Roman especially, but Roman had always been good at bouncing back from things like...well. There weren’t many things like what happened to him, but still.

“How’d you guys-how’d you get better?”

“Therapy. A lot of it. I’m still on anti-depressants, and it happened six years ago. All you can do is try to be safe and try to get help.”

“Your parents….they really never...sent you to therapy, or anything? Seems like-I mean-they gotta be doing something to help, right?”

Seth shrugged. 

“They don’t even know why I’m-why it’s happening.”

Dean frowned. 

“They don’t know you’re gay?”

Seth shook his head. 

“They...wouldn’t..have a problem with it, right?”

“What? Oh, no-think it’d be weird for Dad to have a problem with it, since he’s not-I mean he’s pretty not straight, but just...I don’t know. It still feels scary to admit it to them.”

Dean squeezed Seth’s shoulders. 

“These guys at your school, what’s their names?”

“Uh-Randy, A.J, Cass, and Enzo. They-I’ve gone to school with them for a long time and...yeah. They’ve never liked me-well, I was kinda friend with Randy for a while but then his dad had a fight with my dad, and it kinda….yeah.”

“How often does this happen?”

“Once or twice a month, I guess. They try to-guess they try to spread the beatings out to make it seem less suspicious.”

“And the school ain’t doing anything?”

Seth shrugged and snuggled closer to Dean. Dean usually didn’t like touching anyone but Roman, but he would always make an exception for his little brother. 

“Not really. I guess-guess it’s not a huge deal. I dunno. I try not to make it a big deal.”

Roman was frowning, and Dean was, too. 

“Well….we can’t beat up kids, but-we sure can put the fear of God in some folks.”

Seth looked at both of them, his eyes still wet with lingering tears. 

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll take care of it, kid. Not the first time me and Roman have dealt with bullies.”

“You’re not gonna break the law or anything, right?”

Roman laughed. 

“Not this time. We’ll do what we can.”

Seth leaned his head on Dean’s shoulder. 

“Can you guys stay for a while?”

“Of course.”

Dean stayed with Seth while Roman stepped out to make a call-they had a friend who was good at finding out information, and Dean assumed that’s what Roman was starting on-and he turned on the tv in Seth’s room, picking out a movie for them to watch. They sat quietly for a while, until Seth quietly spoke up.

“Thank you. For coming to get me and everything.”

“‘s no problem. Not gonna get in trouble with the school, are you?”

“No. I texted Shawn an’ he called them.”

Dean sighed. He was a little pissed off, in all honesty. About Seth being bullied, the school and his parents both being ineffective in stopping it. Dean didn’t doubt for a moment that both Hunter and Stephanie thought they were doing all they could for Seth, he was sure that they both loved their son deeply and wholly, but Dean couldn’t help but feel like he’d bring the entire world crashing down if it meant keeping Seth safe. Roman came back in a while later, with a few plates of food, and Dean put aside his anger in favor of being there for his brother, the three of them soon laughing and joking, Seth smiling for real for the first time since they picked him up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meetings of different kinds happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short chapter, but it includes a scene related to the other key ship in this story that i've been VERY excited about :3

 

Dean stared at the top of the table. This felt….wrong. 

Hunter had asked to speak to him alone, so they’d gone out to dinner-after a solid hour of reassuring Roman that he’d be fine (which he was, in part because of the knowledge that Roman and Seth were hanging out at the same time)-but it had been as awkward as Dean was expecting. The conversation had thus far been stilted and uncomfortable, though neither of them were drinking, which could only be a good thing. Dean cleared his throat, and Hunter tried to make his posture open. 

“So Seth tells me you’ve got a job you really enjoy?”

Dean shrugged. 

“Yeah. Uh-I’m working as an electrician.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing fancy, but it gets the bills paid. And-it’s fun, I guess. Gives me something to do with my hands, something to focus on. Get shocked every now and then, that’s less cool.”

That actually got a laugh out of Hunter, and Dean tried not to feel warmth at that. 

“Well, shocks or not, I’m glad you’re doing something you enjoy. May I ask what Roman does?”

“Works in a nursing home.”

Hunter’s eyebrows shot up at that, his face making it obvious that he found that surprising.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just-Roman didn’t strike me as the type.”

“That’s cause you don’t know him.”

Which was true. Hunter had never gotten to know Roman, not well enough to really make any judgement about him, though Dean was somewhat used to people judging his boyfriend far too quickly. Hunter pressed his lips into a tight line. 

“I guess I don’t.”

Another extended silence, while they waited for their food.

“Why...what’s the point of this, Hunter?”

The waiter came by with their plates and Dean decided to be polite and cut his steak instead of tearing into it with his hands, glancing at Hunter as he took a bite.

“Dean-regardless of what has happened between us, you-you are my son.”

Dean slowed his chewing, swallowing what he’d gotten in his mouth. He stared at Hunter, and Hunter looked….sad.

“I realize-far too late-that I never treated you like that. I could say the same thing as I always have, that Trish didn’t want anything to do with me, that...you didn’t really want anything to do with me, that I wasn’t ready when you were born, that I was too young and stupid to be a good father...it doesn’t change the fact that I should have done more. Tried harder. And I never should have kept you a secret. I never should have kept Seth a secret from you.”

Dean continued to stare, silent.

“Seeing you two together….it-I never thought you two would meet, but-now that you have, I realize I should have facilitated that years ago. You’ve had a brother this whole time, and I kept him from you, and you from him. That was wrong of me. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry-”

Hunter cleared his throat, looking away from Dean for a second.

“-I’m sorry that I never helped with your….problems. I knew about them, but I ignored them, because they-things like that make me uncomfortable, and that is probably the worst thing I could have done. Is ignore it, to make myself comfortable. If anything proves that I’ve never been ready to be your father...that’s it.”   
Dean finally emoted.

“Then don’t do it to Seth.”

“What?”

“Seth. He has-the kid has fuckin’ depression or something, he-I know you know that he’s hurt himself before, I know you know he gets bullied, so-don’t ignore that shit. If he thinks-he probably already is questioning if he can trust you, cause of me-not that I’m planting ideas in his head, but he hasn’t exactly taken to the fact that you gave up on me, he thinks you could do it to him-and-fuck, Hunter. Don’t lose that. Don’t make Seth lose that.”

Hunter was quiet, now, as Dean talked, his expression soft and serious.

“He’s-he loves you. That kid adores you with all his fuckin’ heart, and-he does trust you, and if you wanna keep that trust, that love, you need to step up. I don’t care if Seth’s ‘problems’ make you uncomfortable, you shut up and deal with it and help him however he needs. You can’t ignore him. Please-just-don’t do that to him. What you done to me is did, we can’t change that. But-Seth’s still young. Please don’t…..don’t make him feel like it’s hard to trust people.”

Dean swallowed and kept his face stern. He truly did not want Seth to have to go through life despising his father. Dean had, and he didn’t really enjoy it. He knew Seth loved their father, and he didn’t want that to change. Hunter nodded at him.

“I’m gonna do my best to-change that behavior. For Seth.”

Dean nodded, and went back to eating.

“You know...I wasn’t sure about you two hanging out at first.”

Dean snorted.

“No shit.”

“Watch your language. But I think-you’ve really been good for him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy. Seth-he doesn’t have a lot of friends, so I’m happy that you two have...bonded.”

Dean rolled his eyes at the phrasing, but couldn’t help smiling at the thought of his little brother. 

“Well. He’s a cool kid. Weird, but cool. Mom’d love him.”

Hunter laughed around a mouthful of food.

“Yeah, she would.”

Dean was convinced that his mom would, in fact, adore Seth. They had a surprising amount in common, and even more, Dean was sure his mom’s girlfriend would love him. 

“Have you talked to her lately?”

“Yeah. Still pissed about me coming down and asking for help, but...she is happy for the help. Dunno if she’ll ever say that to you, but. I know she is.”

He could understand why his mom had been mad at him, but the story of why they needed the help was ugly; Trish had turned a guy down when he’d asked her out at work, and he’d then started stalking and harassing her, resulting in a horrible night where he beat her until she needed surgery. Her girlfriend, Lita, had gotten injured too, trying to fight the guy off, but it took Roman tackling him through a wall to stop him. 

Dean didn’t feel bad that that had caused the man to be paralyzed below the waist. All he felt was grateful to Roman. 

“It’s really the least I could do. While your mother and I-we’re not best friends, I do care about her, and….God, what happened-that was unacceptable. I’m happy to help how I can.”

And Hunter had helped, already. He’d almost immediately transferred money to Trish so that she could pay off the hospital bills along with any other outstanding debts. The only thing that she hadn’t paid off was the house, and Roman and Dean were steadily helping with that. 

“Thank you. I’m not-”

Dean sat back, rubbing his arm. 

“Hunter I feel like I gotta tell you that I don’t hate you. I don’t-I thought I did, for-I thought I did. But I don’t. I’m just mad at you and resentful and I-I don’t even know if I like you, but I don’t...hate you. I don’t….I mean...it’s still hard to think of-I dunno, dude, nevermind. I don’t hate you. I’m sorry if-I’m sorry for being a dick back then and for pushing you away, cause I know you were trying in-whatever weird way you could.”

Dean shoved food into his mouth and started chewing, trying to ignore the heat in his face. Hunter was looking at him and Dean didn’t really want to see his expression. He really didn’t like feeling things, not if they didn’t involve Roman. Or Seth, as of the past week. 

“Have you given any thought to-maybe extending your stay, a little?”

Dean looked up then, nodding. 

“Yeah. I-me and Roman wanted to spend more time with Seth, I wanted-didn’t wanna just leave the kid.”

“You really have taken to him, huh?”

Dean could not keep the smile off his face if he tried.

“I really have.”

\---

Seth looked up at the sound of a knock on his door.

“Yes?”

Stephanie opened the door and popped her head in.

“Hey, honey. Are you busy?”

Seth shook his head. He’d just finished up his homework and had been texting one of his friends, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait. He stood and followed his mom, downstairs and into the kitchen.

“I thought you might wanna help me make some things.”   
Seth’s eyes went wide and he smiled.

“Are you gonna make candy?”

Stephanie smiled, the same grin that he had, and nodded.

“Yup. We haven’t gotten to in a while, I miss cooking with you. Can you grab some things out of the pantry?”

Seth was practically bouncing as he grabbed whatever she called out that they needed; one of his favorite, absolutely favorite things in the entire world was cooking and baking with his mom. He loved working with Aleister and learning things from him, but he’d been helping his mom in the kitchen since he was a young child. They would always do so around the holidays, especially, and it was always something special between them. Seth kicked the pantry door shut and carried armfuls of ingredients into the kitchen, watching as his mom put her hair up in a ponytail. 

Sometimes it really struck him how beautiful his mom was.

“Okay, we need the candy thermometer, and the measuring cups-”

“The metal ones?”

“Of course.”

Seth put his own hair up and zoomed around the kitchen, doing whatever he was told, his mom much calmer and smoother in her actions. She was so confident, in everything she did, so sure of herself. Seth wished he could be like that. He watched as she measured sugar and dumped it into a pot. 

“So how is school going, honey?”

“It’s….okay, I guess. I got the highest grade in the class on my essay for English.”

“Wow! I’m proud of you, you’ve always been good with words.”

Seth ducked his head down a little. He liked when his parents were proud of him.

“How is your...production going?”

Seth stared at her for a moment. Stephanie rarely asked him about his theater stuff.

“It’s-it’s really good, we open soon.”

“Let me or Hunter know which day it is, so we can get tickets.”

He was quiet, for a long few moments, until Stephanie stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

“Seth?”

“I-I didn’t think you’d...wanna come…”

Which was a fair assumption. His parents really hadn’t shown much interest in his acting career, and they’d only come to a handful of performances that he’d been in. He looked up as his mom sighed.

“Honey...I’m sorry.”

“It’s o-”

“No, it’s not.”

She sighed again and turned back to the stove, stirring the sugar as it turned slowly into a liquid.

“Your father and I...we shouldn’t have ever let it get to the point where you assume that we don’t care. And we did. Because we both wanted something else for you and let it get into our heads that you should have done what we wanted.”

She shook her head.

“Did you know I wanted to be a professional wrestler when I was a kid?”

Seth’s eyes widened.

“You did?”

“Yeah. Loved the idea of it. But-every time I brought it up to my parents, it was all ‘you can’t do that, it’s not dignified’, ‘it’s not a steady career’, ‘we just don’t think that’s for you’. It’s how I ended up going into business and economics, because my parents literally sat me down and gave me a list of ‘acceptable’ majors for college.”   


Stephanie added a few ingredients to the mixture before it boiled.

“I guess everyone is right when they talk about becoming their parents. I never-I never wanted that to happen to you, but-I am like my dad in a lot of ways. Can you hand me the nutmeg?”

Seth handed the spice to her without thinking. 

“I know that you wanna go into the theater program at college. And-I do support you, honey. I know I haven’t in the past, and I’m sorry for that, but I want you to know that I just want you to do what makes you happy.”   


Seth felt his lip wobbling and he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. He couldn’t help himself and wrapped his arms around his mom’s waist, hugging her tight. She hugged back with one arm, the other still steadily stirring the pot. 

“I-I-”

“I know, honey. I’m sorry we haven’t been-better. Dean coming around...it helped kick my ass into gear on that, but it shouldn’t have  _ taken _ that.”

Seth pulled away and sniffled, wiping his face again. He took a deep breath and pulled his own hair back.

“Should I start on the chocolate part or is it too early?”

Stephanie smiled at him, and leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead.

“Go right ahead, honey.”

\---

Roman sighed, and Seth stilled.

“Sorry.”

Dean grinned and watched as Roman helped Seth apply eyeliner, after Seth had stopped fidgeting. He was nervous-though the fidgeting may have also been because Roman was so close to him, and Roman was wearing one of his ‘I’m showing off’ outfits, black cutoff shorts and fishnets and knee-high boots, a black bra under a mostly-unbuttoned sleeveless shirt. Dean knew it could be a little overwhelming. Hell, they’d been together for more than a decade, and Dean was still overwhelmed just looking at Roman sometimes. 

“There we go. All done up.”

Seth stood and went into the bathroom to look in the mirror. Dean followed him; he still seemed nervous, but excited at the same time. They were taking Seth to his first concert-well, it was less a ‘concert’ and more an ‘all ages punk concert in what used to be a dive bar’, but it was still the first time Seth had been to anything like this. Dean stood behind Seth and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“You look good, kid.”

Seth grinned and practically started bouncing. He was adorable. 

“C’mon, guys, let’s go, I wanna get there early.”

Dean followed Roman out to the car, slapping his ass on the way out the door. 

“Dean…”

“What? You know what those shorts do to me.”

Roman smiled and pulled Dean against him, and Dean wrapped his arms around Roman’s thick waist. 

“I’m more interested in what you might be doing to me later.”

Dean groaned, leaning his head on Roman’s shoulder. He kissed at his neck, rubbing the softest part of his hip.

“Baby, don’t get me going while we have Seth with us. Gotta be responsible.”

Roman laughed, low and deep in his chest. 

“I’m liking this new parental side of you, honey.”

Dean pulled back and smiled at Roman, just holding him close.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Makes me think.”

“About….”

“Yeah. About us-”

Dean cupped Roman’s face with both hands, gently, deeply kissing him, moaning against his lips before pulling away. He rested his forehead against Roman’s.

“If you want...we can talk about that later. Maybe-maybe start thinking more seriously about it.”

Roman smiled, the big smile he had where his eyes scrunched up and he looked like the single most beautiful creation on God’s green earth, and he heard Seth yell from the car.

“Come on! What happened to getting there early?”

They both laughed and got into the car, Roman driving them out of the parking lot and starting on the way to the venue. It was a forty minute drive, and they stopped at a drive-through for dinner. Dean wondered if he was ever more in love with Roman than when he watched him eat while driving. 

“So what should I expect? With-all of this-”

“Don’t worry, kid. It’s not as scary as some people make it out to be, there’s just-a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. The pit might be a little overwhelming at first, but no one is there to really hurt you.”

Dean knew mosh pits seemed intimidating to a lot of people, and he could understand that, but they really got a bad rap. No one was there to hurt anyone, just to get out excess energy. Dean had had a lot of good nights spent mashed between people in pits. He smiled when he felt Roman’s hand on his thigh.

“And if anyone tries, me and Dean are here. Don’t hesitate to get us if someone starts freaking you out, okay? Like if some old creep comes up on you, come get us.”

Dean closed his eyes and hummed. His boyfriend was a sweetheart. He was looking forward to their talk that they were going to have once they got back. They finally got to the venue-a long building that was already loud from the outside, and Seth followed closely behind Dean as they walked inside. Dean wrapped an arm around his shoulders and walked with his head held high, grinning as he saw people checking Roman out, especially once he leaned against the bar, his long, thick legs fully displayed. 

Seth hopped up onto one of the stools and kicked his feet, and Dean did the same, Roman between them. 

“Are you guys gonna drink at all?”

Dean and Roman both shook their heads.

“Nah. We don’t really drink anymore. We smoke pot occasionally, but that’s the only inebriation we really get into.”

“Yeah. Drinking just….not our thing.”

More and more people, ranging from high schoolers to people easily approaching sixty, made their way into the building, and Dean turned to watch the stage as someone made their guitar screech. He turned back to Seth and grinned.

“You ready?”

Seth nodded, his eyes huge and bright. Dean grabbed his hand and led him to where the pit was already forming, holding his hand tight as the music started. He closed his eyes and felt the energy build up before letting his body move however felt right. He opened his eyes and watched Seth, who started a little late, still right on the edge of the pit, scanning over what everyone was doing. He finally started moving, and Dean grinned. He’d known this would be good for Seth, with how much energy the kid stored in his body. 

They stayed next to each other for a while, until Dean had to take a break, heading to the bar and grabbing the bottle of water that Roman held out to him. He grinned and took a drink, setting it down and wrapping his arms around Roman, spinning him into a dip and kissing his neck. He felt Roman laugh more than he heard him, and he laughed, too, before standing back up straight and finding Seth in the crowd.

\---

This was….an experience, if nothing else. Seth knew he’d be worn out later, but as he moved and jumped in the pit, he felt nothing but energy. Pure energy, influenced and encouraged by the people around him. He moved back and forth and grinned and only barely noticed when he was suddenly on the ground, his jaw aching a little. He looked up and saw a young man about his age on a much larger man’s shoulders, another large man next to them, and they all immediately gasped and leaned down to help Seth, the one that had been on the man’s shoulders kneeling next to him. Seth just had to stare.

He was  _ beautiful _ . He was the most beautiful boy Seth had ever seen in his life, and he let him and the two giant bald men lead him away from the pit to the bathroom, where it was more quiet.

“Oh my goodness-I’m so sorry, we didn’t see you-”

“I think I got you with my elbow, dude, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“You’re not bleeding, but-damn, that might bruise, I’ll get something cold from the bar-”

One of the men-the shorter of the two bald ones-left and Seth just blinked at the two that were left. They stared at him in concern, and the beautiful one-even in the green-ish fluorescent lighting of the bathroom, he was stunning, his skin pale and creamy-smooth, bright, bright blue-green eyes and dark brown hair. The deep, gorgeous Irish accent didn’t escape Seth’s notice, either. 

“Oh-uh-it’s-it’s okay, I-uh-it’s my first time at one of these, I probably should have been watching closer-”

“Shit, dude, I hope I didn’t ruin it for you.”

“Oh no! Not at all, uh-ow, though-it’s okay, my brother said something like this might happen. Uh-thanks for not just stepping on me, I guess?”

The other man came back and the beautiful one took the little plastic bag of ice from him, taking off the bandana he had around his neck and wrapping the bag in it before pressing it to Seth’s jaw, his other hand cupping the other side of Seth’s face. It smelled like lemons and sugar. Seth tried to be subtle about trying to inhale the scent. 

“My name is Finn, this is Karl and Luke-uh, Luke is the one that...accidentally knocked you-”

“Sorry again, dude, sometimes I don’t always see where my limbs end up-”

Seth blushed at the feeling of Finn’s hand gently moving on his jaw, and he cleared his throat.

“It’s cool. I can-I mean, you’re...really tall, I can see how that can happen. And-my name is Seth.”

“It doesn’t hurt too badly, does it?”

Seth looked at Finn, right into his blue, blue eyes and shook his head.

“N-no. Uh. No, it’s fine. Thank you. For the-ice, and-uh-I should probably go get my brother before he freaks out-”

“What’s he look like? We’ll go get him.”

“Uh-he and his boyfriend are here-he’s got long, kinda red hair and he’s wearing-well, he’s probably shirtless by now, but his name is Dean and his boyfriend’s name is Roman, he’s been by the bar the whole night and he has long black hair and a really cool tattoo on his arm-”

Karl and Luke left the bathroom to find Dean and Roman, leaving Finn and Seth by themselves. Finn was still standing….very, very close to him, and Seth swallowed.

“Uh-do you go to things like this a lot?”

Finn smiled, and Seth completely forgot about getting an elbow to the jaw.

“Yeah, a lot of the time. I figure I can’t already damage my hearing more than it already is, so why not?”

Finn laughed and Seth, for the first time, noticed the small hearing aids on either side of his head.

“Oh. Uh-huh.”

Finn blushed, his cheeks tinting pink, and Seth was more overwhelmed by that than anything else tonight.

“So this is your first show like this?”

“Yeah. My brother loves things like this, and we-kinda just met a week ago, so we’re-sorry, I don’t mean to get into that-”

Finn giggled, and gently pulled the bag of ice off of Seth’s face, leaning in and checking it.

“It doesn’t look bad, but you might wanna keep the ice on it so it doesn’t swell. I’m sorry again, Seth.”

“It’s really-it’s okay. Uh. If you want, though...you could give me your number. You know, so I can give you an update, if it gets worse.”

Finn blushed even deeper, and giggled again, biting his lip. Seth was having the best night of his life right now. 

“Give me your phone.”

Seth handed Finn his phone and watched as he put in his number, even adding a note on where to find him on various social media sites. He handed his phone back to Seth and smiled.

“Do you mind texting instead of calling? It’s not that I can’t talk on the phone, it just gets a touch awkward.”   
Seth nodded as the door slammed open, Dean-shirtless, as Seth had expected-rushing immediately to Seth’s side, Roman following at a much calmer pace, laughing and talking with Luke and Karl.

“Are you okay? Knew I shouldn’t’ve left you alone-”

“I’m fine, Dean-I didn’t get hit that hard, and the ice has helped-”

Dean grumbled as he checked Seth’s jaw out, but nodded eventually.

“Well….alright, it’s not that bad, but-Jesus, you scared the hell out of me, two big skins comin’ up, telling me my brother got hurt-”

“I really am sorry, it’s-kind of my fault. Luke and I have a tradition about me being on his shoulders in the pit, and-we just weren’t looking where we were going.”

Finn’s voice was quiet and honest, and Dean looked him over before sighing.

“It’s….it’s cool, dude. You guys helped him and made sure he was okay, I can’t really be mad. Hell. I got my rib broken at my second show I ever went to, shit happens.”

Seth glanced at Finn, and they made eye contact, both of them blushing and smiling. Seth noticed Dean looking between them, and he reached up to hold the ice to his jaw again.

“Hey, why don’t you let us treat you guys to a late-night meal? Make up for all this.”

Roman’s eyes lit up. 

“I could eat.”   
Seth watched as Dean rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around Roman’s waist, and he followed them out of the bathroom, walking side by side with Finn, occasionally bumping his shoulder against Finn’s.

\---

Dean rolled off of Roman, both of them panting heavily, trying to catch their breath. They’d dropped Seth off at home after going to an all-night diner with Luke, Karl, and Finn. Dean and Roman had had a lot of fun with Karl and Luke, who were both carpenters, and had recently moved to the area from Japan, and Dean had kept an eye on Finn the whole night, because Finn had spent the whole night next to Seth. It was clear that his brother was already enamored with the boy; from what Dean gathered, he was born in Ireland and had also lived in Japan and he and his family come to town when Karl and Luke’s families did. He seemed sweet, and was only a few months older than Seth. Nothing to worry about so far. 

He and Roman had come back to the motel and finally finished out the last of their energy with some slow, easy lovemaking, and Dean smiled as Roman snuggled up to his side. He stroked his fingers over Roman’s shoulder and arm, tracing the lines of his tattoo, the bumps of the brand on his arm. 

“Tonight was fun.”   
“Mhm. Those guys were pretty cool. Did you notice Seth getting familiar with Finn?”

Dean squeezed Roman.

“Yeah, I noticed. He seems nice, and I’m always happy to see Seth happy.”

“Mmm. I know you are, honey.”

Roman kissed Dean’s chest, and Dean let his eyes close.

“Honey?”

“Yeah?”

“I think maybe….it’s time to think about-I think I’m ready. For-all that, if you are.”   


Dean opened his eyes, looking down at Roman and cupping his face. 

“Me too. I think-we should start talking about that, what we want that to look like. I mean-I’ve wanted to marry you since we first met.”

“I know, I still remember when we were in third grade and you wrote an essay about how all you wanted to do in the future was get married with me. And if I remember right, you drew me in a very lovely dress.”

Dean snorted.

“You don’t have to wear a dress, but I’m not fighting that option.”

“We’ll see. Is this gonna turn into a race to see who can propose first?”

“Probably. With your competitive ass.”

Roman laughed and pressed closer to Dean’s side.

“You knew what you were getting into. How long-I mean...I also feel...I’m ready to start a family with you, too, Dean. I think that’s-maybe still a few years away, but-I want that.”

“God….I do too, Roman. More than anything, I want-I want that.”

Dean kissed the top of Roman’s head, before gripping his chin and kissing him on the mouth. He knew that this conversation was coming, ever since they’d started really hanging out with Seth. Dean had never felt such strong parental instincts, but now he did, and now it felt right to really begin the process of figuring out how to become parents. He and Roman had always known that they wanted a family, and to get married, but between everything they’d been through over the past few years and what had happened with Dean’s mom, it just...wasn’t time. But it was now.

Roman squeezed Dean tight around his waist, resting his head on Dean’s chest. 

“I love you, honey.”

“I love you too, Roman.”


End file.
